Self Portrait in a Convex Mirro
by Parmigianino
Title
Self Portrait in a Convex Mirro
Artist
Parmigianino
Medium
Painting - Print On Paper
Description
Reproduction of a quite remarkable circa 1524 self-portrait by Italian artist Girolama Francesco Maria Mazzola, aka Parmiagianino (the little one from Parma). I can't think of a more unusual and captivating 'selfie' in the whole history of art. The use of the distorting mirror (a real novelty in the 16th century) is audacious and brilliantly effective, not least in the way the artist has placed his hand so casually in in the foreground, giving the inadvertent and unsettling effect of a modern, wide-angle camera lens. But what really does it for me is Parmigianino's dreamy, slightly ambiguous expression. He looks as though he has his mind on other things, and is that a hint of a smile on his lips? He certainly looks much younger than the twenty-one years he is purported to have been when he painted this. This is a genuinely remarkable work, a tantalising window into the past and to an individual whose presence is so real, we feel we almost know him. That Parmigianino got heavily into alchemy during the course of his tragically short life somehow comes as no surprise.
Uploaded
January 23rd, 2015
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